Page 92 - Aloe Vera Information - Scientific Papers about Aloe Vera

The Plant And Its Preparations

The genus Aloe embraces about a hundred species, which grow from a few centimeters in height to
plants 6 meters high. The leaves of Aloe vera somewhat resemble the leaves of the century plant. They
are about 40 cm. long and are dark green; sometimes they are mottled with brownish spots. The leaves are
flat on the upper surface and convex on the under surface and the margins are armed with reddish thorns.
The base of the leaf is about 1.5 cm. thick. The integument is thin and fibrous and the interior of the leaf
is filled with a gelatinous substance resembling lemon gelatin.

The plant grows widely in warm countries. It is found wild and is cultivated in countries bordering the
Mediterranean Sea and in India, Africa, China, and the Islands of the Indian Ocean. It is cultivated in
many of the Islands of the West Indies, especially in Barbados, Curaqao and Aruba, and it is found in
Mexico and Florida. I have not seen mention of its cultivation in any of the Pacific regions.

The various commercial products are named principally from the localities where they are produced.
Socotrine Aloes, made principally from the species Aloe perryi, but also from Aloe vera, comes from the
Island of Socotra in the Indian ocean. Barbados and Curacao Aloes are produced mostly from the species
Aloe vera, which is grown on various islands in the West Indies. There are many other kinds of Aloes
which are known by the following descriptive adjectives: “Cape,” “Natal,” “Zanzibar,” “Aganda” and
“Crown.” Besides the preparation from Aloe vera and Aloe perryi, a number of preparations, mostly
inferior, are made from other species and are official in the United States Pharmacopeia.

Because commercial Aloes, it is said, is prepared principally by natives, who remove the jelly-like
interior of the leaves and dry it in troughs or other containers in the sun, it often contains much foreign
matter. For this reason, in the United States Pharmacopeia it is advised that a purified Aloes be made by
dissolving the powder in alcohol and then straining and drying the filtrate. I have used the crude powder,
as I said before, because I thought some of the properties might be impaired by the alcoholic treatment.

Owing to the fact that there are so many varieties of commercial Aloes, it seems possible that the results
may not always be uniform. The material I have used has been the best grade of Socotrine Aloes, and the
results have been fairly uniform. The ointment which I made contains 1 drachm (4 gm.) of powdered
Aloes and 1 drachm of calamine to the ounce (30 gm.) of white petrolatum. The calamine forms a sort of
paste and makes the ointment more adherent. The dusting powder which I also have said that I used in
some cases, has not caused any irritation or other undesirable effects.

Summary

The fresh leaves and the Aloes ointment and the powder appear to have the following properties:
1. They relieve pain, burning and itching.
2. They have some sort of antiseptic action. Infected lesions quickly become clean and exude little or
no pus.
3. They seem to stimulate rapid granulation and formation of new tissue so that denuded areas appear
to heal more rapidly than with other agents. They are effective in eliminating the foul odors that
accompany infection of broken down carcinomas, ulcers and so forth.